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A political drama threatening Brazil's President Michel Temer has deepened with judges ordering his top ally to stand trial and corruption suspects lining up to make more potentially explosive revelations.

After a roller-coaster year for Brazil, the latest allegations risk destabilizing Temer just six months after he took office, as he seeks to rescue Latin America's biggest economy from crisis.

He denies the accusations that he used public funds to make maintenance payments to a woman with whom he had a child.

In a separate case, Calheiros is also among numerous top politicians including an ex-president and lawmakers accused of helping steal billions from state oil firm Petrobras.

In a fresh development in the Petrobras affair on Thursday, a source close to construction firm Odebrecht told AFP that 77 of its current and former executives had signed a plea deal with investigators.

They agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in return for lighter sentences, said the source, who asked not to be named.

The 77 include the firm's jailed boss Marcelo Odebrecht, who was reported earlier this year to have named Temer in testimony to investigators.

The firm also agreed to pay a USD 2 billion fine over the affair.

Temer is not being formally investigated himself, but the Petrobras scandal has already driven several of his ministers to resign.

Brazilian media said the plea deal could lead to 100 more suspects being dragged into the sprawling Petrobras probe, dubbed Operation Car Wash by investigators.

Marcelo Odebrecht was handed a 19-year jail sentence in 2015 for corruption and money-laundering. The new plea deal could lead to his term being reduced.

The separate embezzlement case caught up with Calheiros as a battle between prosecutors and politicians was raising tensions.

Calheiros had tried unsuccessfully on Wednesday to push through an urgent reform that would challenge judges' powers to investigate corruption.